The Last Airbender
The Last Airbender is a film adaptation of the of the animated series written, produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. Other producers include Frank Marshall and Sam Mercer with executive producers Kathleen Kennedy, Scott Aversano, Michael Dante DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko, and co-producer Jose L. Rodriguez. It is the first part of a planned film trilogy adapting the three seasons of the original animated series. It has been marketed and released in a joint effort by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies.Pamela McClintock P; Tatiana Siegel, [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117984091 Nickelodeon, Par team for Airbender; duo to release Shyamalan's live-action film.] Variety. 15 April 2008 The filming began in mid-March 2009, and was released on July 1, 2010 in both 2D and 3D screens. Several novelizations of the movie were released on May 22, 2010. It is currently commercially solid with a $319,123,021 intake worldwide. The movie was announced Paramount Home Entertainment. "Live-Action Epic Based on Nickelodeon's Popular Series Delivers Inspiring Adventure the Whole Family Can Enjoy: The Last Airbender". PR Newswire. September 14, 2010 and released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 16th, 2010.The Last Airbender (2010). Amazon.com Its possible sequel is The Last Airbender 2. Main Billing ;Presented by : Paramount Pictures : Nickelodeon Movies ;Directed by : M. Night Shyamalan ;Screenplay by : M. Night Shyamalan ;Based on : : ;Created by : Michael Dante DiMartino : Bryan Konietzko ;Produced by : M. Night Shyamalan : Sam Mercer : Frank Marshall ;Executive produced by : Kathleen Kennedy : Scott Aversano : Michael Dante DiMartino : Bryan Konietzko ;Co-produced by : Jose L. Rodriguez ;Director of Photography : Andrew Lesnie, ACS, ASC ;Edited by : Conrad Buff, A.C.E. ;Costume Designer : Judianna Makovsky ;Music by : James Newton Howard ;Casting by : Douglas Aibel ;Starring : Noah Ringer : Dev Patel : Nicola Peltz : Jackson Rathbone : Shaun Toub : Aasif Mandvi : Cliff Curtis : Seychelle Gabriel : Francis Guinan : Randall Duk Kim ;Production of : Blinding Edge Pictures : The Kennedy/Marshall Company : : : Synopsis The film told the story of Aang, a 13-year-oldAccording to the movie novelization, Aang was biologically 13 years old, Katara was 15, Sokka was 17, and Zuko was 18. In contrast with the original series, Aang was biologically 12 years old, Katara was 14, Sokka was 15, and Zuko was 16. airbender who ran away from his destiny as the Avatar. After a hundred years in suspended animation, Aang traveled to the Northern Water Tribe on the other side of the world with his newfound friends, Katara and Sokka, to find a master to teach him waterbending. In his absence, the Fire Nation, now ruled by Fire Lord Ozai, had been waging a seemingly endless war against the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe, having already destroyed the Air Nomads. As the Avatar, he was hunted by Zuko, a banished prince of the Fire Nation seeking to redeem his honor, and the Fire Nation itself, led by Commander Zhao. Cast * Noah Ringer as Aang: The thirteen-year-old Avatar and the last surviving airbender. Ringer is a Texas taekwondo champion, who won the part in an open audition. He was cast after submitting a homemade DVD of himself practicing taekwondo and was 12 years old during the shooting of this film. This was his debut. * Nicola Peltz as Katara: A 15-year-old waterbender, the last one from her Southern Water Tribe. Peltz was highly praised at her audition by Shyamalan and was fourteen years old during the shooting of this film. Shyamalan said that he did not want to do the movie without her. * Jackson Rathbone as Sokka: A seventeen-year-old warrior from the Southern Water Tribe, and brother to Katara. Rathbone is primarily known for his portrayal of the vampire Jasper Hale in the Twilight films. * Dev Patel as Zuko: An eighteen-year-old firebending prince of the Fire Nation, banished by his father. Patel replaced Jesse McCartney for the role of Prince Zuko as the latter was unable to take part due to conflicting scheduling. Shyamalan was impressed by Patel's acting performance in Slumdog Millionaire and so cast him in the role. Young Zuko was played by Rohan Shah. * Aasif Mandvi as Zhao: A high-ranking general of the Fire Nation who led the Siege of the North. Mandvi is an Indian-born, British-raised actor and comedian. He is regular correspondent on The Daily Show. * Shaun Toub as Iroh: A former general of the Fire Nation, brother to Ozai, and uncle to Zuko and Azula. Toub is an Iranian-born television and film actor of Persian Jewish background with previous roles in films such as ''Bad Boys'', ''Iron Man'' and ''Crash''. * Cliff Curtis as Ozai: The Fire Lord, the monarch of the Fire Nation. Curtis is a New Zealander with Maori heritage. He previously had starring roles in New Zealand films such as ''Whale Rider''. * Seychelle Gabriel as Yue: The Princess who led the Northern Water Tribe. * Katharine Houghton as Katara's Grandma: The paternal grandmother to Sokka and Katara. * Francis Guinan as Master Pakku: A master and the leader of waterbenders for the Northern Water Tribe. * Damon Gupton as Gyatso: A senior airbending monk from the Southern Air Temple, and a guardian and father figure to Aang. * Summer Bishil as Azula: A firebending prodigy, daughter to Ozai, and sister to Zuko. Bishil is an American-born 22 year old actress Her mother is White American, and her father is a Saudi citizen of Indian ancestry. She rose to fame by starring in the movie ''Towelhead''. * John Noble as the Dragon Spirit: A spiritual guide for Aang in the Spirit World. * Dee Bradley Baker as Momo : A winged lemur thought to be extinct, and an animal companion to Aang. * Dee Bradley Baker as Appa: A six-legged flying bison, possibly the last surviving one, and an animal companion to Aang. * Keong Sim as earthbending father: An unnamed minor character who served a similar role to from the episode . * Isaac Jin Solstein as earthbending boy: An unnamed minor character who served a similar role to from the episode " ". * Randall Duk Kim as the Old man in temple: An earth villager who often visited the Northern Air Temple. Novelization ]] The novelization was released on May 25, 2010 , before the film was released in July 1, 2010 . Curiously, there were differences in the novelized story from the movie itself, including scenes not included in the movie (e.g. the Kyoshi Warriors), newly added scenes in the movie (e.g. the Azula epilogue), and alternate outcome of the story (e.g. some Fire Nation ships were crushed by the wave). Very likely, the novelization was for the movie before it was announced to be revised for 3D purposes after the printing and distribution of the novelization was underway. Indeed, test screening reviews from AICN contained elements covered in the novelization but not in the final cut such as Zhao punching the fish to death instead of stabbing it with a dagger. The theatrical version of the movie is estimated to be 20-30 minutes shorter than the novelized version, which may be what Shyamalan alluded to when he said "I'm dying to make a two-hour movie, I just haven't earned it yet" , and has been suggested to accommodate the limited availability of 3D screens. Adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender In the video "interview" of M. Night Shyamalan conducted by Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino, the film trilogy was planned to be 6+ hours long, which gave 2+ hours for the first movie (though the final running time is 103 minutes). Due to the short allotted running time, the film does not cover the entire first season of the original animated series, even though the film was titled "Book One: Water". With such rich and complex story elements, rather than a "comprehensive adaptation" like ''Harry Potter'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'', the essential elements were selected and rewoven into its own story and direction, similar to a "selective adaptation" approach with a long series like ''Spider-man'' and ''X-Men''. Development On January 8, 2007, Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies announced that they had signed M. Night Shyamalan to write, direct and produce a trilogy of live-action films based on the series; the first of these films was to be a faithful adaptation of the main characters' adventures in Book One. The film was in a dispute with James Cameron's film Avatar regarding title ownership, which resulted in the film being titled The Last Airbender. Reception The Last Airbender has received a nearly universal negative response from critics, on the tomatometer receiving 7% from Top Critics and 6% from All Critics . As for the awards, the film was nominated for eight Golden Raspberry Awards, which is a parody of the Oscars by doling out accolades to the worst films of the year, and won five : Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, Worst Supporting Actor (for Jackson Rathbone), and Worst Eye-Gouging Misuse of 3-D. The Worst Sequel, Remake, or Adaptation and Worst Screen Couple/Ensemble were lost to Sex and the City 2, while Worst Supporting Actress went to Jessica Alba. It was nominated with several other awards including Choice Summer Movie for the 2010 Teen Choice Awards , International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) , the 32nd Young Artist Award , the 2011 MTV Movie Awards, , and the 3rd Annual Coming of Age Movie Awards of which, Noah Ringer won for the Best Actor . Many fans of the have demanded for a remake or reboot of the film, which is discussed in . Fans of the film itself, however, have banded together in support of the movie at various sites, many of them asked to release an extended cut of the movie . DVD/Blu-ray The DVD and Blu-ray for the movie was released by Paramount Home Entertainment on November 16, 2010. It boasts over two hours of in-depth, behind-the-scenes special features including a nine-part documentary on the making of the film, a featurette entitled "Origins of the Avatar", which documents the creative transformation of the hit animated series to the big screen, picture-in-picture insights from the cast and crew that deconstruct some of the amazing action and visual effects sequences, deleted scenes, outtakes and more. A Blu-ray 3D version was also released on the same day, but as a Best Buy exclusive release.News flash on Blu-ray 3D release The Last Airbender grossed $12,757,094 and sold a total of 750,859 units in its first week on DVD.The-numbers.com Screenplay Notes References See Also * New York premiere of The Last Airbender * VIP Fan Auctions * Name pronunciation that were changed and kept in the film * Written language developed for the film * Removal of Koizilla External Links * The Last Airbender (wikipedia) * (Avatar Wiki) * (Avatar Wiki) * The Last Airbender (IMDb)